


Psych You Out in the End

by januarylily



Category: Psych
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 06:36:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9422750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/januarylily/pseuds/januarylily
Summary: Dr. Sarah Spencer is back in Santa Barbara working her way up the medical ladder. Things go awry in the E.R. one night and she finds herself meeting Carlton Lassiter. An attraction eventually forms between the two of them. How will Lassiter react to find that she is the sister of psychic paleo-sleuth Shawn Spencer?





	1. Chapter 1

A petite brunette woman dressed in scrubs leaned against a counter signing forms of release at the nurses' station in the emergency room. The end of the pen slid into her mouth as she reread the forms to make sure that every part of her diagnosis was spelled out clearly. She nodded her head when she was satisfied before handing the clipboard back to the woman on the other side of the counter. "Room three,Sarah,Glora" the woman said handing her another clipboard.

Sarah looked at the clock and sighed before accepting her next patient's file. It was going to be a long night. She had already been at work for hours, but she still had two hours until she was done with her shift...and that was if her replacement managed to show up. Being the newbie at the hospital left her at the bottom of the totem pole swinging the shifts no one really wanted-definitely one of the downsides of coming back to Santa Barbara. Sarah wasn't entirely sure what drew her back to the city. Some might say it was her father being back in town...others thought it was her brother's latest business adventure...but to be honest, she herself wasn't really sure why she was back. Yet, here she was in a busy E.R. crawling with people.

"Alright...Alex," Sarah mumbled as she looked at the name on the file. "Let's see what brings you here on such a fine evening." Setting her shoulders and forcing a smile on her face she knocked on the door before entering the room.

Once she had diagnosed Alex with an ear infection and bronchitis, Sarah walked back to the nurses' station and plopped down onto one of the swivel chairs before she threw her arms on the desktop and rested her head on her arms. Her feet hurt and she had a dull headache. She just wanted the night to be over. "One of those nights, huh?" a voice chuckled from above.

Sarah slowly lifted her head and looked at one of the nurses, Gloria. Gloria looked over her frames of her glasses with a motherly expression which made Sarah chuckle. "Is it too much to hope that Derick gets in early?"

"Probably. Now honey, there's a detective out front waiting for the doctor on call and last time I checked, that was you."

Sarah's brow furrowed. She couldn't think of anything illegal she had done...recently. Maybe it had to do with Shawn. But why would a detective come to the emergency room for something like that? No, that didn't make sense. Then it clicked, the John Doe. Sarah rubbed at her temples. "Of all the nights to be on call."

Gloria grinned slyly. "Well, if it helps, the detective is rather attractive and he's without a ring on a certain finger."

"Why would that help things?" Sarah looked up at the woman knowingly. Gloria had been trying to set her up with someone since she had transferred. The older woman had a reputation for match-making, but Sarah was determined to not be one of her success stories.

"Sarah, it certainly can't hurt matters." Gloria placed her hands on her hips. "But I suppose you can always go pluck the cactus spines from Room five's ass."

Sarah smirked. "Is it at least a cute ass?"

"The detective's? Yes. Room five's could use a shave."

Shaking her head as she stood, Sarah put her hands up in surrender. 'Alright, Gloria. You've convinced me. I'll go talk to the detective. But if his ass isn't cute there will be hell to Gloria. Hell. I mean it." Gloria laughed and shooed Sarah away.

Sarah's ponytail swayed as she walked out to the waiting room. People waiting to be scene looked at her with hopeful eyes, but she just smiled awkwardly as she surveyed the room for the detective. He was leaning against the front desk with his back to her, dressed in a suit. Sarah only recognized him from the gun holster on his side. She glanced a little downward and smirked, "Not bad. Not bad."

Crossing the distance between them, Sarah approached the detective and cleared her throat. He didn't move. She rolled her eyes and straightened her stance. "Excuse me, Detective." He quickly whipped around and for a moment, Sarah was stunned by the eyes most women would want to dive into. He shook his head with an annoyed expression on his face. His expression was quite evident that he wanted to know what she wanted. Sarah finally managed to find her voice. "I-uh-hi. I'm Dr. Sarah Sp-"

He put his hand up to stop her. "I don't have time for the formalities," he said rather bluntly. Sarah shut her mouth as he quickly flashed her his badge, before putting it away just as fast. "I'm Head Detective Carlton Lassiter with the SBPD and you're the doctor. Got it? Good. Now, show me to the John Doe."

Sarah shook her head and laughed. Detective Lassiter was probably used to getting his way, but she wasn't going to be bullied by him. No, her father had taught her better than that. Two can play this game. "Now, hold on there detective. I want a better look at those credentials."

For a moment, he almost looked flabbergasted, but he didn't miss a beat. "I already showed them to you. Now, show me to the man before I go back there and show myself."

"Whoa there, hold on." Sarah placed her hands on her hips and extended herself to her full height, which was still significantly shorter than Detective Lassiter. "For all I know you could be some guy pretending to be a detective. If you're not legit and I give you privy to confidential information, I could get fired. So, hand 'em over." She extended her right hand palm up and waited.

Detective Lassiter grumbled something inaudible before he reluctantly pulled his credentials out again and held them out in front of her with an annoyed expression on his face. Slowly she raised her hand to grab the credentials and brought them closer to her face to examine. When she was satisfied with them, she nodded her head. "Thank you, Detective Lassiter," Sarah said, but he said nothing. He just shook his head and returned his credentials to his person. "My dad was a cop. He taught me to cover my ass and all the little tricks you guys play. Now if you'll follow me, I'll take you back to the John Doe."

Sarah walked toward the door and Detective Lassiter followed after her. She opened the door and motioned for him to step inside. He passed through the door and Sarah followed behind him before leading him through the E.R. "Now, normally we don't leave patients in his condition back here so long, but…" Sarah stopped talking for a moment. "You don't care why he is where he is, do you?"

"Figured that one out on your own. You're catching on quick."

Stopping in front of the entrance to the patient's room, she turned to look at Detective Lassiter. "Have you ever heard of catching more flies with honey, Detective?"

"I'm not catching flies, Doctor. I'm trying to figure out what happened to our John Doe. Maybe you could enlighten me on some of those details instead of country-bumpkin sayings."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest and shook her head before she walked into John Doe's room and walked to his bedside. "Hit and run accident, but I'm assuming you already knew as much."

Detective Lassiter narrowed his eyes at the patient. Sarah had a suspicion he knew the real identity of the man in front of them, but she said nothing. He straightened his stance and looked at her sternly. "It's not my job to share details with you-you, however, do have to share them with me."

"Internal bleeding. Coma. That's about all I got." Sarah gave him a sidelong glance. If he was going to ruffle her feathers, she could do the same. She stood a little taller beside him. "But I'm guessing that he's a suspect in something, isn't he? Robbery? Murder?"

"Doctor, that is highly inappropriate from someone in your position."

Sarah shook her head. "If you knew my family you'd know I'm probably the most appropriate of the bunch. Well, unless I'm provoked. Actually, you might know my brother. His name is Sh-"

Lassiter put his hand up to stop her once more. "Doctor, do you have anything else remotely relevant to your John Doe or are you going to continue to waste my time?"

While she knew it would be more fun to go another round with him, her sense of professionalism took over...somewhat. "Look Detective, you want me to talk straight with you? The guy's in a coma and there's like a ten percent chance of him getting out of it. Now, if he does manage to get out of the coma, the likelihood of him retaining normal bodily functions is slim. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that whatever case you're trying to build against the guy is shot to hell. Now, are you going to tell me who he is? I mean, we are supposed to work together, right?"

Detective Lassiter looked at her for a moment before opening his mouth to speak when screams came from the waiting room. Sarah looked at Detective Lassiter whose hands immediately reached for his gun. "We're here for Martin! Where's Martin?" a man shouted before the sound of gunshots rang through the air. "Oh, Marty!"

Sarah looked down at the man in the coma and then back up to Detective Lassiter who was inching toward the door with his gun in his hands. 'This wouldn't happen to be Martin, would it?" she hissed at him. "Is it?"

"Yes, that's Martin Ditter."

"What's that guy want with him?"

"Martin is a witness to a crime involving a local gang."

"So, they're trying to take him out. That's great. Where's his police detail?"

"You're looking at it. I didn't exactly have time to call in for backup since you were too busy babbling."

"Oh, so this is my fault now? You're the one who wasn't fully up front with why he was here."

Lassiter looked at her incredulously. "I only just found out this is the guy, my god. I've spent the better part of the last hour looking..."

Sarah's eyes widened when she saw another man approaching them with his gun. "Detective!" she screamed. But it was too late. The man hit Detective Lassiter with the butt of his gun causing the detective to collapse to the floor. The man gave the detective's gun a kick forcing it to slide across the room and Lassiter lay limp on the floor. "I-I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Sarah said sounding far braver than she actually felt.

"Lady, this doesn't concern you. Leave and this will be over," the man with the gun said.

Sarah repositioned herself between Martin and the man with the gun. She gulped hard before she spoke again. "I-I took an oath to do no harm to my patients. I'm afraid I can't allow you to kill him. You'll-you'll have to kill me first."

"Looks like it." The man aimed the gun at Sarah. She closed her eyes preparing for what was about to happen. The sound of a gunshot rang out. Sarah cringed waiting for the bullet to pierce through her flesh, but the sting never came.

Slowly, she opened her eyes to see the suspect falling to the floor, howling in pain. Behind him stood Detective Lassiter holding the smoking gun, quite literally. For a moment, Sarah stood there blinking, trying to process what had just happened. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion as Detective Lassiter ran to the man on the floor and grabbed the gun in his hands.

Sarah's hand rested on her chest, over the place where her heart was beating rapidly. "You-you saved me," she said breathlessly.

"Wouldn't have had to if you would have shut up," Lassiter muttered to himself before slapping a pair of handcuffs around the man's wrists. He then walked across the room to grab his first gun, the one the suspect had kicked. He grabbed it and then took a few steps closer toward Sarah. "You should probably get the bullet out of his leg," was all he said before walking away.

Sarah numbly nodded her head and breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him walk away. "Not bad," she muttered as Detective Lassiter disappeared from her view.


	2. Chapter 2

Sarah shifted her car into park and then rested her head against the steering wheel of her car. After what had happened at work, she couldn't bring herself to go home...not alone. So, after a quick phone call, she found herself sitting in the driveway of her childhood home.

She rubbed at her sore neck and then massaged her temples. Even though the incident had happened hours ago, she was still stressed-out from it. After the never ending questions and statements, she had asked to come by in the morning to finish them. Right now, she was just too mentally exhausted to be of much help anyway.

Slowly, Sarah exited her car to find her father walking down the steps of his car toward her. She stood in place and held her arms out for him to hug her. Henry Spencer hugged his little girl tight, gently rocking her back and forth. While Henry had always been a little harder on Shawn, Sarah had been his soft spot. "Hi, Daddy," Sarah said, hugging her father back. "I'm sorry about this."

"It's what I'm here for, honey," Henry responded before he patted her back and released her. "You have any bags that need to be brought inside?"

"Just my gym bag of clothes. I can get that."

Henry shook his head. "No, no. I got it. You just get inside."

Sarah sighed and hugged her father once more. "Thank you, Daddy."

Henry patted his daughter's back and then pushed away from her. He opened the backseat of her car and took out her gym bag and then walked Sarah to the porch. Sarah walked close to her father, with her arms around her chest. It was obvious she was still rattled by the events from earlier. "I wasn't sure you got a chance to eat. So, I picked up on some pie for you."

"Pumpkin?" Sarah asked hopefully.

Henry chuckled. "Would I ever buy you anything else?"

"Yes. Yes, you would. When I was thirteen you tried to convince me that a sweet potato pie was a pumpkin pie, but I could tell the difference."

Henry held up his hands in defense. "I've learned my lesson since then. The real stuff or bust with you." He chuckled as he reached down and opened the door for his daughter.

With a sigh, Sarah crossed the threshold and walked into the house. Many memories ran through her head as she looked around the house. It looked a bit more manly than it had when she was growing up. Fish mounts and pictures had replaced the floral decorations that had once hung on the walls. "I'm gonna bring this up to your old room," Henry said. "Why don't you go get your pie from the kitchen."

Sarah nodded her head as her dad kissed the top of her head before he headed upstairs. She had a pretty good relationship with her father, especially in stark contrast to her brother. Sarah took off her tennis shoes before she walked to the kitchen only to find someone in a green polo shirt and jeans rummaging through the refrigerator. The younger Spencer shook her head. "Well, well, look who it is. The prodigal son returns," Sarah said with a slight grin on her face, leaning against the doorframe into the kitchen.

"I'm pretty sure you'd be the prodigal one, Sar," Shawn said flippantly still looking through the refrigerator. "I mean if we're getting biblical here, Dad didn't give me any money. You, on the other hand, took his money and squandered it on medical school before coming back. Not to mention that you're the younger sibling."

"Oh, come here, you." Sarah laughed. Shawn quickly whirled around and closed the distance between them. He hugged her tightly, picking her off the ground and twirling her a few times because it made her laugh so hard that she snorted. After several snorts, Shawn set her down on the ground safely before Sarah gently punched him. "Ass," she chuckled.

"I had to inherit something from Dad," Shawn commented to which Sarah responded by rolling her eyes.

There was a moment of silence between the siblings before Sarah asked. "How did you get here? I didn't see your motorcycle out front."

"Gus dropped me off. I told him he had to drop me off or I was gonna hotwire the Blueberry. I don't think he wanted to explain why someone jimmied the lock and hot wired it to his employer."

"I thought Gus kept a spare key in a little magnetic box right above the tire."

Shawn grinned. "So that's where he keeps it. Good to know. You know...for research purposes."

"Yeah, research. I'm sure," Sarah laughed at her brother shaking her head. There was another moment of silence. Sarah knew that there was supposed to be a natural lull to conversations about every seven minutes, but apparently, she and Shawn could barely make it through two. "So...you didn't come to my housewarming party," Sarah said calmly as she sat down at the kitchen table. "I would have figured the free food would have been a selling point."

Shawn leaned against the counter. "Well, you see, Sar-you live in an apartment. So, by definition, calling it a housewarming party was a lie. One which Gus and I refused to be a part of."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her brother. "You know, I'd almost buy that, but Gus came to my party. He bought me a vase. He also filled me in on your business venture the two of you have going."

"Yeah? That's cool. I must've forgotten to put the deets in your Christmas card."

"You didn't send me a Christmas card."

"Huh, must've gotten lost in the mail. Damn mail carriers these days."

"But that's not all he told me, he told me the whole thing was a farce," Sarah smirked at her brother waiting for him to respond. It took a few moments for it to sink in, but he did.

"Gus," Shawn groaned, mimicking the emotions of a preschooler. He then crossed his arms over his chest. "Traitor."

Sarah shook her head. "Oh, don't blame him. He knows that I know how your gift works. I would have found out eventually. I mean, I am your sister after all." Shawn didn't look as convinced. So, Sarah responded, "I'm very well practiced in the art of keeping your secrets. Like the time you ripped up your report card, so I borrowed old Ms. Fennel's Yorkie and brought the two of them together. I said I must have dropped your report card, carrying it from the mailbox and Elmo must've gotten a hold of it and ripped it to shreds."

Shawn looked at his sister and moaned, "I need comfort food." He grabbed the piece of pie out of the fridge and stabbed a fork into it as his sister got a glass of water from the tap.

Henry entered the kitchen to find his children right as Shawn took a bite of the pie. "Shawn, that was for Sarah."

Shawn looked up after shoving a forkful of pie in his face. "What? I didn't see her name on it," he responded with his mouth full. Shawn looked at his sister and then piled another bite in his mouth.

"Typical," Sarah said shaking her head and taking a sip of water.

Henry chased after his son with his hand outstretched. "Oh, give that here." The Spencer boy then took off, running around the kitchen table away from his father. "SHAWN!"

Suddenly, he stopped and then brought the plate to his mouth. Shawn breathed all over the piece of pie right before Henry could snatch it from him. "But there are germs on it now. Sarah's not gonna want it covered in my germs."

Henry gently smacked his son on the back of the head before he walked over to the trash and dumped the piece of pie inside. "Hey! That was still a perfectly good piece of pie! I hope the Pie Police don't come and arrest you. Actually, I hope they do." Immaturely, Shawn stuck his tongue out at his father. Henry just rolled his eyes.

"Pie Police? That was pretty pathetic, especially for you," Sarah commented as she walked back to the kitchen table with her glass of water in her hands.

"Everyone strikes out every now and again."

Sarah shook her head as her father took a seat next to her at the table. Rather hesitantly, Shawn did the same. The three Spencers looked at each other, all with the same thing on their mind: when was the last time the three of them were in the same room for an extended period of time? Sarah might have guessed her graduation from medical school, but her father and brother had sat on opposite sides in the audience. Although, technically they had all been in the same room.

Silence.

It was Sarah who broke it simply because she couldn't stand it any longer. "So, this is why we don't have many family reunions," she stated nodding her head at her father and brother. "Good to know."

More awkward silence.

"Well, on that note, I'm going to get ready for bed. I have to be at the SBPD bright and early tomorrow for paperwork stuff." Sarah stood up and headed for the stairs, but Shawn's hand reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Sar-are you sure you're okay?" Shawn asked. Sarah smiled at him. There was the protective older brother she knew and loved. While Shawn was definitely a smartass most of the time, he wasn't heartless. In fact, Sarah knew he cared quite a bit. He just usually masked his feelings with sarcasm-something she could relate to.

Sarah gently patted her brother's arm. "I'm fine. It's just that I chose the medical field over law enforcement because I thought I wouldn't be shot at. Looks like I was wrong."

"How did you manage to get out?" Henry asked. "Did you have the gun I bought you on?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. It was in my car. Luckily, there was some detective there. He kept me safe like any good cop would."

"You should really keep the gun on you at all times," Henry mused.

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her father. "Oh, I'm sure that would go over real well with the hospital." She then walked over to her father and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Daddy, I'm fine. Just a little rattled, that's all. And for all the trouble, I'll even make you a batch of my famous cookies."

Henry wasn't going to turn down her offer. He loved his daughter's cookies. Sarah hugged her father from behind and then hugged her brother before walking toward the stairs. She stopped suddenly and looked over her shoulder. "You two better behave while I'm up there." She then placed her hands on her hips and pointed at the two of them. "Don't make me have to come down here."

Both Shawn and Henry chuckled, although they knew that Sarah was dead serious about her threat. She had broken arguments up between them in the past and she wasn't afraid to do so. They both wished Sarah goodnight as she slowly climbed the stairs to her childhood bedroom.

Sarah quickly changed into an oversized John Hopkins t-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms in her old room. Slowly, she walked around the room examining its contents before she left momentarily to brush her teeth. Then she settled down on the twin-sized bed. She was used to sleeping on a queen-sized bed, but this would have to do. As she snuggled down between the sheets, she grew more and more restless but sleep never came. Things weren't going quite as she expected.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah hadn't been able to sleep for long. So, instead of just lying in bed being unproductive, she headed down to the kitchen to bake. Baking always lowered her stress levels. It was a good thing she had a high metabolism otherwise all of the baking she did might have been detrimental to her girlish figure.

She rummaged through the kitchen and was surprised to find that her father had all the ingredients she needed on hand. The only problem was that she couldn't decide on just one type of cookie to make. So, she narrowed it down to four: classic chocolate chip, red velvet, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal chocolate chip raisin. Then she set to work mixing the cookie doughs. She dropped balls of dough onto cookie sheets, pizza pans, cake pans, and anything that would be ruined in the oven. It was a good that her father had stacked double ovens because she was able to place two sheets of each type of cookie in the oven to bake.

Knowing that she had overdone it with the cookies, she placed two twenties under a magnet picture of herself with her father from her high school graduation. While she knew her father would more than welcome her cookies, she knew that giving him money was the right thing to do. Besides, she had a good paying job now. She could finally pay him back for all the years he had supported her through school. Granted, she always had a steady job, unlike her brother, but she didn't want her father thinking she was taking advantage of him. She had watched her brother do it one too many times and knew that she couldn't do the same thing to him.

Sarah sat at the kitchen table scrolling through her text messages on her phone as she waited for the cookies to bake. She looked through her contacts trying to figure out who she could share some cookies with. Obviously, she would leave some with her dad. She would take some home. She'd give some to Shawn. Gus could probably use some. She then bit her bottom lip. She should probably bring some to the detective who saved her. Sarah knew what a detective was paid and she also knew that they didn't always get the thanks they deserved. So that settled it, she would bring the man a plate of cookies and be done with him. Besides, it wouldn't be terrible to see his ass once more. Sarah then went back to bed, hoping for another hour or two of sleep.

When Sarah walked into the kitchen after more rest, she found her father feasting on the cookies. His back was to her as he shoveled two cookies in his mouth. "I think I'm gonna have to cut you off, Dad," Sarah chuckled, causing her father to whip around with a look of shock in his eyes. This made her laugh harder as she walked over to him.

He swallowed hard. "How'd you sleep, kiddo?" he asked.

"I think this is a pretty good idea," Sarah said, gesturing to her night's baking.

Henry wrapped an arm around his daughter. "It'll get better, I promise."

Sarah shrugged. If it doesn't, I might have to start a bakery."

"That might not be a bad thing. Your own bakery that is. Not the not sleeping part. That part's not good."

Sarah chuckled and leaned into her dad. "I knew what you meant, Dad. But I better get these cookies packaged before you eat them all." Henry quickly plucked another cookie and then quickly walked away. "Now I'm not gonna leave you any cookies," Sarah teased her father.

Once the cookies were packaged, Sarah jumped in the shower to freshen up. She then decided to deliver the cookies and head home. It was nice staying with her father, but she needed to get over what happened and that meant going home alone. She left her father's plate of cookies on the kitchen table before she headed to her car with the rest of them. Sarah's first stop was the Psych office, where she hoped to run into both Shawn and Gus. But when she got inside, she only found one of them there.

Gus sat at his desk, drinking a Jamba Juice smoothie, and on his laptop. Sarah figured he was probably updating his Facebook profile. "Knock, knock," Sarah said from the waiting room of the Psych office.

"Who's there?" Gus asked slamming the top of his laptop down.

"It's Sarah. I come bearing gifts." Sarah walked into the office holding two plates of cookies and smiled at Gus. "Hey, Gus."

"Well, hello there, Sarah," Gus said walking to the front of his desk. "Long time no see." He leaned against it and smiled his signature smile. If Sarah didn't know better, she would have thought he was flirting with her. But she knew better than to date Gus.

When they were both teenagers, Sarah knew Gus had a thing for her. He had even asked her to the prom, although it was because Sarah's boyfriend had dumped her the day before and it had been Shawn's idea that Gus take her. But Sarah and Gus both agreed that they could never be anything more than friends. Shawn couldn't handle it if the two of them were anything more. But recently since Sarah had moved back to Santa Barbara, she couldn't help but feel like Gus was trying to rekindle whatever flame they had snuffed. But their time had passed and Sarah wasn't about to look back.

Sarah handed Gus his plate of cookies. "Thank you, Sarah. You know how I love your cookies."

She nodded her head. "Is Shawn supposed to be coming in today?"

"He was supposed to be in fifteen minutes ago, but he texted me saying that he spotted the Wiener Mobile…"

"Say no more," Sarah chuckled. "Knowing my brother, it makes complete sense. Sadly, if it was anyone but him it wouldn't. Hot dogs for breakfast is so Shawn. Well, I'll just leave his dessert on his desk. Promise you won't eat them?"

Gus smiled. "I promise. You know me, Honest Guster."

Sarah cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't you give yourself that name in high school?"

"Yeah, so?"

"It's usually the dishonest people that give themselves nicknames with the word honest in it." Gus's brow furrowed, but Sarah hadn't meant to offend him, so she quickly recovered. "But I trust you, Gus."

"You can wait with me if you'd like," Gus said. "You know, for Shawn."

Sarah tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "You know, as fun as that sounds, I have other cookies to deliver. I accidentally baked my dad out of house and home last night. Maybe next time."

Trying to play things cool, Gus folded his arms across his chest and nodded his head. "Yeah, that'd be cool." He leaned over to grab his Jamba Juice smoothie, but his hand clipped it and it fell to the floor and splattered. As Gus dived toward what was left of his smoothie, Sarah quickly escaped the Psych office and ran to her car.

Sarah then drove downtown to the Santa Barbara Police Department. The drive wasn't long, but parking was a bitch. It took her about fifteen minutes to find a parking spot a couple blocks away. She quickly threw her hair up into a ponytail and ran her fingers through her bangs before she grabbed the plate of cookies and walked toward the police department.

Once she was inside, she walked up the stairs and found the front desk. An officer sat there on the phone. She pointed for Sarah to take a seat on the bench and wait until she was done with her phone call. So, Sarah did as she was told. She sat down next to a prisoner who was shackled. He looked like he could have belonged to the gang that shot up the hospital yesterday. Her thoughts flashed back to the day before and she quickly sprang up from her seat. No, she would much rather stand than relive those memories.

Five minutes later, the woman waved her back over. "How can I help you, miss?" she asked.

"I-uh, I'm here to see Detective Lassiter," Sarah said.

"Reason for your visit?"

It was at that moment that Sarah felt rather stupid and sheepish for coming all the way down with a plate of cookies to thank the man. But she was already this far. "I-uh-I just wanted to be sure I filled out all the paperwork out properly yesterday," Sarah said as she moved the plate of cookies behind her back.

"There's his junior detective now," the woman said pointing at a blonde walking toward them. "She can walk you over. O'Hara!" She waved the blonde detective over. The woman detective walked over, her heels clicking as she walked.

"Hi, Francine," Juliet said with a smile. "How can I help?"

"This young lady needs to see Detective Lassiter about some paperwork. Can you take her over?"

"I sure can." Juliet then turned toward Sarah and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Detective O'Hara."

Sarah accepted Juliet's hand, with one still behind her back. "Sarah. I'm Sarah."

Juliet looked at Sarah quizzically for a moment. "Where are my manners? It's very nice to meet you, but you look awfully familiar. Have we met before?"

"I don't think so," Sarah said. Juliet shrugged and the two women began to walk through the police station. "I-uh-I just wanted to make sure I filled out all my paperwork from yesterday right."

"I'm sure Detective Lassiter would have called you if you hadn't, but that's really sweet of you to come by and double-check." Juliet smiled before she caught a glance of the plate behind Sarah's back. "Are those cookies?"

Sarah came to a stop. "I-uh-yeah, I couldn't sleep. I'm a stress baker and then I thought that I should maybe bring Detective Lassiter some. I mean, he did save my life after all. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him."

"That is so nice of you," Juliet smiled. "I'm sure Detective Lassiter will appreciate them." Just then someone called O'Hara. Juliet turned to see that Officer McNab wanted to talk to her. "I'm sorry, I have to take this." She then pointed to the desk in the far corner of the bullpen. "He's right over there. Thank you for stopping by."

Sarah nodded her head and watched Juliet walk away. She then stood there for a few moments watching Detective Lassiter. He was going through paperwork and he looked very focused. Sarah regretted coming, but there was no escaping now because Detective O'Hara was talking to Officer McNab on her escape route. She took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her ponytail. Sarah then crossed the bullpen and approached Detective Lassiter's desk.

"Hi," Sarah said rather timidly as she stood in front of his desk, but he didn't even look up. He just kept turning pages. "Excuse me."

Without even looking up he responded, "Yes?"

"I—uh, just wanted to thank you for last night...at the hospital."

"I was just doing my job," Lassiter said, still without looking up from his stack of papers.

Sarah bit her bottom lip in frustration. "Yeah, I get that much. But I also get that cops don't always get the thanks they deserve. You risked your life for me and I think that deserves a little more than just paying my taxes."

Carlton looked up at her and shook his head, "Look here—Doctor—" His brow furrowed in confusion. It was obvious he didn't know her last name, but he did remember that she was a doctor.

"Sarah, call me Sarah."

"Look here, Sarah. I know that when people in your position get saved you develop some sort of romantic notion of the man that saved their life, but I'm not interested. Do you have any idea how many women throw themselves at me after I've saved them? Let me tell you it's a lot and I'll save you the embarrassment now by gently turning you down."

Sarah's eyes widened. How dare he assume that? She shook her head before her temper got the better of her. "Whoa—I just wanted to give you some cookies to fulfill my debt of gratitude. Cookies—not my body. That's all, Detective. And FYI-you're not my type. So here you go—your cookies." Sarah set the plate of cookie on his desk. "I hope we never have to meet again, Detective." With that, she quickly turned on her heel and walked out, meaning every word she had spoken.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun beat heavily upon Sarah as she sat on the pier lost in her thoughts. She slowly sipped her PB Chocolate Love smoothie from Jamba Juice and readjusted the baseball cap on her head as she stared out at the ocean. Something about the ocean was calming. Granted, it wasn't as calming as stress-baking, but she couldn't bake her father out of house and home. So, this would have to do.

Someone came to a stop beside her and Sarah's immediate response was to panic internally. Slowly, she turned her head and sighed at the sight of her brother, who handled his own Jamba Juice smoothie. "Saw you from the office," Shawn said looking at his sister over his sunglasses. "And I figured I'd come check on you. After getting my Aloha Pineapple smoothie first though. You know, priorities."

Sarah shook her head. "Oh, how sweet of you. You come see me after getting yourself a smoothie. I see where I rank."

"Hey, I had Gus keeping an eye on you the entire time. See, he's right there." Shawn pointed over his shoulder at Gus, who was sitting on a bench wearing a fake beard drinking a smoothie. She had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed her brother's best friend creeping on her.

"That's not creepy at all," Sarah responded sarcastically before she took another sip of her delicious smoothie. "Now, what do you want Shawn?"

"I have to want something in order to see my baby sister?" he asked feigning hurt, which Sarah could immediately detect. She knew her brother, probably more than she wanted to. She simply raised an eyebrow at him and he groaned. "I might want something...but I still wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine, Shawn. You don't have to talk me off the ledge or anything. There's just only so much stress-baking someone can do and still be fiscally responsible."

"Speaking of cookies, you wouldn't happen to have more of them, would you? Gus and I were going door to door selling cookies. Psych scouts.."

"Ah, ah, ah, don't try and distract me with the Psych scouts thing. Tell me what you want."

Shawn glanced at his sister. "I already told you. Cookies." His bottom lip jutted out much like a child's. "C'mon, Sare-Bear. It's for the psych-deprived youth of America. Do it for America."

Sarah sighed and shook her head."If you and Gus want more cookies, then you need to buy me the ingredients."

Shawn turned around. "Gus? You got that, buddy? You gotta go buy her the ingredients."

Looking over her shoulder, Sarah noticed Gus pop out from behind a bench before he took off running down the pier, his fake beard fell off in the process. Gus bent down to pick it up. He tried to put it on again. He was no more than a few steps when it fell off again. "Dude, just go!" Shawn shouted. "I'll get the beard." Gus quickly looked back. He then looked down and took off in a sprint, leaving the fake beard behind.

"Are you two ever going to grow up?" Sarah asked her brother.

"Never. You should consider regressing, it does wonders for the skin." Shawn patted his face and then reached over and smushed his sister's face.

"There's nothing wrong with my skin," Sarah groaned as she tried to bob out of the way of her brother's hand. "Shawn, stop. Stop. I said stop!" Shawn's hand instantly fell away as Sarah stood there breathing heavily. "Sorry," she muttered.

Shawn looked at his sister sympathetically, but she refused to meet his gaze. "Sarah?"

"I'm fine, Shawn." Her tone was clipped. But she was trying to convince herself more than she was her brother. Before Shawn could say anything Sarah pushed past him. "I just want to go home. Have Gus drop the stuff off at my place later. Bye, Shawn." She turned back and placed a kiss on her brother's cheek before she walked away from him, not entirely sure what was going on with her.

Sarah unlocked the door to her apartment and quickly shut the door behind her. She then walked up the stairs to her main living area. Her beta fish, Nemo, was there to greet her as she plopped herself lazily onto her couch. She grabbed the TV remote and turned it on to watch some mind-numbing show on HGTV. Feeling rather sleep-deprived, she curled up under a blanket and fell asleep.

Eventually, she was awakened to the sound of her doorbell continually going off. "What the hell?" Sarah muttered to herself, taking a moment to process where the sound was actually coming from. She glanced out the window to see that it was still light outside, meaning that not too much time had passed. The doorbell continued to ring. "I'm coming," Sarah shouted as she lost the blanket and walked down the stairs to her front door. She looked through the peephole to find the door-ringing culprit was Gus. Sarah groaned and then opened the door.

"So, Shawn and I narrowed it down to our favorite dozen," Gus said without even allowing Sarah to say anything. "Which is significantly knocked down from our top 100 treats list that you've made us. So I went to Costco and bought in bulk. I mean, look at the bag of chocolate chips. They were on sale!" Gus pulled out a giant bag of Nestle chocolate chips and shoved them toward Sarah. Sarah grunted as he dropped the bag in her hands.

"Now, don't tell Shawn but I removed one of his choices. Don't get me wrong, I thing you make a mean caramel flan. But I was thinking more quantity than quality right now." It was then that Gus noticed Sarah's lack of response. He let one of the grocery bags slip down his arms before he snapped his fingers in her face. "Sarah? Earth to Sarah? Are you alright?"

Still holding the bag of chocolate chips, Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "Gus, I could have died last night. How do you think I'm doing?"

"Ohhhhh...Ohhhhhh...Ohhhhhh…" Gus responded. He then dropped all the grocery bags to the ground and tightly embraced Sarah in an awkward embrace. While the gesture was appreciated, it was still quite awkward. After nearly a minute, Gus finally released her and Sarah backed up, still clinging to the chocolate chips. He then looked down at the grocery bags at his feet. "I really hope the eggs weren't in there."

"Just bring them up here," Sarah said as she carried the bag of chocolate chips upstairs.

After a few moments, Gus called, "The eggs are fine!" as he climbed the stairs after Sarah. At the top of the stairs, Gus stopped to admire Sarah's apartment. Her housekeeping skills were much more like Henry's than Shawns. Although her interior design style was definitely her own. There were no dead fish or movie posters hung on the walls.

"The table is fine," Sarah said poking her head through the opening over the counter between the kitchen and living room.

Gus set the bags down on the table before he looked at the small buffet against the wall. On the buffet were several pictures. But the one that caught Gus' interest was the one of Sarah, Shawn, and himself from when they were kids. The three of them were with their bikes and they had ice cream cones in their hands. "That one's always been my favorite," Sarah said lightly from behind.

Sarah's voice started Gus causing his hand swat the other two picture frames. The frames flew off the buffet and landed on the floor, shattering the glass. "Oh. My. God. Oh. My. God." Gus immediately ran over to the photos and began picking up the pieces as Sarah immediately went for a broom and dustpan. "Sarah, I am so sorry," Gus apologized as he picked up the first frame.

It was a picture of Sarah with both her parents at her med school graduation. The frame was beyond repair. Gus then picked up the second photo. It was a picture of Sarah and Shawn and it looked like it had been taken within the last couple years. Its frame was mangled too. "Sare-"

"Gus, it's fine," Sarah said with a sigh as she began to sweep the shattered glass. "They're just frames. I got them at the Dollar Tree."

"I can get you new ones," Gus offered standing up, brushing his hands against his pants.

Sarah sighed again. "No, you don't have to. I'll just swing by the Dollar Tree tomorrow. It's not that big of a deal."

Gus walked over "Here, let me."

But Sarah flinched. "No, I got it. I'm fine."

"Sarah…"

"Gus, just go. Please? Just go. I-I want to be alone." Despite the fact that words flowed easily from her mouth, they were the furthest thing from the truth. She didn't want to be alone, but there was only one person she needed right now. Gus took this as his cue to leave and Sarah pulled out her phone and made a call.

Ten minutes later an old pickup truck pulled up in front of Sarah's apartment. Sarah ran outside to greet her father. "Daddy," she sniffled as she threw her arms around her father. Henry hugged his daughter back. "I'm so sorry about this. I thought I was stronger than this."

"Kiddo, it happens to the best of us," Henry said, resting his head on top of his daughter's, gently running his fingers through her snarly hair.

She was silent for a minute as she hugged her father with tears stinging at her eyes. "I'm supposed to be better than this. I grew up a cop's daughter. I shouldn't be letting this get to me. I mean, I should be fine."

Henry backed slightly away from his daughter. He gripped her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "You had a close call. Sarah, this is completely normal behavior. You're a doctor. You know that. I'm sure you've read plenty about patients like this and maybe even seen a few."

Sarah pulled a stray tendril of hair from her face. "But I'm supposed to be different. I mean, you never let it get to you...and you went through much worse."

Henry chuckled and shook his head. "I've been there kiddo. Believe me. The first couple times, I was in rough shape. And even later in my career, sometimes it was just as hard. I just never let you kids see it because I thought that was what was best for you." Sarah's breathing began to even. Henry hugged his daughter tight again. "Why don't we go inside."

Sarah gently pulled away and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. "I'm an adult. I shouldn't need my daddy to come over."

"Sare, you're only human, but if you need to rationalize it to yourself you can pretend I'm here for dinner." Henry ruffled his daughter's hair before he headed for her apartment. Sarah followed her father inside, making sure to lock her door behind her.

Sarah sat down at her dining room table, which was still covered in groceries as her father walked into the kitchen. "Ugh, I'm so pathetic," Sarah groaned she banged her head against the table a few times before she looked up to see her father pulling chicken breasts out of the fridge. "Can you grill it?" she asked innocently.

Henry chuckled and nodded his head before he set to work. He cooked them grilled chicken with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. They ate it together in the living room using TV trays, watching some old-timey show Henry wanted to watch. When they were finished eating, Henry washed the dishes and put away the groceries Gus had brought over earlier. Sarah lay on the couch curled up with a blanket.

"Daddy?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, kiddo?" Henry responded.

"Can you stay until I fall asleep?" Henry nodded his head. He knew this was just a moment of weakness for her. Sarah was a fighter. She would get back up and be better than ever. That he was sure of.


	5. Chapter 5

Sarah awoke the next morning to find that her father had left. She slowly stood up and stretched. She cracked her neck and then headed for the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. There was something about starting the morning off with a cup of tea that made everything better...or at least that's what she told herself.

Sarah filled a mug with water from the tap before she put it in the microwave. Her roommate at medical school often criticized Sarah for her lazy way of making tea, but it was a habit she never outgrew. While she waited for the microwave to beep, Sarah attempted to declutter the table which was still covered in the dry ingredients Gus had brought over. Baking would definitely be a welcome distraction again. Definitely more welcoming than second-guessing her career choice.

For years, all Sarah had ever wanted to do was become a doctor. Sure, she put added pressure on herself to find something and stick with it because she saw how disappointed her father was when it came to Shawn, but she had never swayed from a medical career. Her father had been so supportive of that route that Sarah had never really let herself think otherwise. She was a good doctor, she knew that. But something about the shooting had her starting to have second thoughts. She didn't want to disappoint anyone, especially not her father.

Sarah rubbed her face. Her thoughts were too heavy for barely being awake. Thankfully, the microwave beeped and Sarah pulled her mug of hot water out before she put a tea bag of Nutcracker Sweet tea inside. It wasn't Christmas, but Sarah always had the tea on hand. It was her favorite. After the tea had brewed for a few minutes, Sarah added two spoonfuls of sugar to it. "Some doctor you are," she muttered to herself, knowing that her sweet tooth almost always got the better of her.

Slowly, she moved back into the living room and carefully plopped herself onto the loveseat without spilling the hot tea on herself. She turned the TV on and surfed through the channels, coming to a stop on One Tree Hill. While the episode wasn't particularly funny, imagining all the jokes Shawn would crack about Chad Michael Murray definitely lightened her attitude. By the end of the episode, she even found herself laughing out loud at imaginary Shawn's mocking of the poor man. If she ever actually met the actor, Sarah wasn't sure she'd ever be able to contain herself. One look at him and she would probably be done for.

She then decided to get off her ass and do some more baking. Although, she did leave the TV on so she could still do some mocking while she baked Shawn and Gus's favorite dozen, starting with the red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips. Thinking about her brother and his best friend made her chuckle. Sometimes it seemed like those two were never going to grow up. But then again, being a grown-up wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Just as she placed the cookies in the oven, the doorbell rang. Sarah groaned. Who could it possibly be? She had told Gus not to expect their cookies until she called. If it was Shawn or Gus...well, let's just say there would be hell to pay. Sarah wiped her hands on her apron before she wiped the back of her hand against her forehead. Although, she must have missed some flour because she streaked some against her forehead and didn't know it.

Still wearing her apron over her sweats, Sarah walked downstairs and opened her door, fully prepared to yell at her brother and Gus. But when she opened the door, she was shocked to find a man dressed in a navy blue suit with his back turned toward her. The man then slowly turned toward her and removed his sunglasses. It was none other than Detective Carlton Lassiter with the SBPD. Sarah stood there in shock. What was he doing there? But Sarah didn't want to give the man the upper ground. Not after their last encounter. She folded her arms across her chest and stood a little taller.

"Detective Lassiter, what are you doing here?" Sarah asked calmly, before rubbing her nose with the back of her hand, once again unknowingly depositing flour.

Lassiter was about to raise a hand to point it out to her, but he clenched his hand into a fist instead. He cleared his throat and began, "I-I uh, I looked your address up on the paperwork you filled out…" He stopped short of continuing and just looked at her.

Sarah smirked. She could tell that he was unsure of what he was doing right now. That gave her the high ground and the advantage. "Highly inappropriate for a man in your position, isn't it?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, one could argue that your file just slipped open in front of me and I might have accidentally memorized your address. It was just there. So no, but technically yes...I-uhh…"

He was floundering and Sarah was loving every second of it. After their last encounter where he had seemed entirely sure of himself and now to see him like this, was gratifying. Sarah just stood there with her arms folded across her chest and let him flounder. It served him right.

Lassiter stopped talking and stared at Sarah. This never happened to him. He always had something to say. He stood a little taller and cleared his throat. "Can we start this over?" he asked.

"I suppose." With that Sarah shut the door. From the side window, Sarah stood there watching Detective Lassiter staring at the door in confusion. She laughed. He must have heard her because he looked at her. She tried to hide the breadth of her smile by biting down on her lip. This was probably the most entertainment she had had since the shooting. Even more than imaginary Shawn mocking Chad Michael Murray.

Sarah then pointed at the doorbell before she gave him a thumbs up. She watched as he rolled his eyes, but he did as he directed. He rang the doorbell, but he held his finger on the bell much longer than necessary. Clearly, he didn't like her having the upper hand. So, Sarah took her sweet time in opening the door.

When she did open it, she plastered an obviously fake smile on her face. "Detective Lassiter! Long time no see! It's great to see you. How can I help you?" she asked in a somewhat mocking tone. While she normally was much more mature than her brother, she had was known to have a childish streak or two.

But he wasn't to be side-tracked. "What the hell did you put in there?" Lassiter asked holding up the plate of cookies she had given him earlier, only the plate had only one cookie on it and Sarah wasn't entirely sure where the plate had come from.

Sarah stood there with an arched eyebrow and her arms folded across her chest. "You disregarded my right to privacy for a cookie recipe?"

He rolled his eyes. "I mean, I suppose I could have run them through the lab on the taxpayer's dime, but your place was on my way home, so I figured I'd swing by."

She leaned against the door frame. "Right. Sure. On your way," Sarah chuckled.

"It was," he argued before going silent for a moment and glancing down at his shoes "If I take the long way home."

"That's what I figured," Sarah smirked, knowing she once again had the upper hand with Detective Lassiter.

"You know, on second thought, I'm just gonna waste the taxpayer's money." Detective Lassiter took a bite of the last cookie before he realized his mistake and then he quickly set it back on the plate. He turned and began to walk away.

Sarah watched as he walked away from her, but she soon recalled her conversation with her coworker as she looked at his behind. She smiled and then took a step onto the sidewalk in her bare feet. "Detective Lassiter!" she called.

He stopped and looked at her over his shoulder.

She sighed. "I'd hate for you to waste my taxpayer money on lab expenses when it could be better spent on other things, like...I don't know...psychic detective agencies." Sarah watched Lassiter roll his eyes. From her conversations with Shawn, she knew that he and Lassiter didn't see eye to eye and she couldn't help herself with that jab. She then took a few steps toward him. "I can't give you the recipe because then it wouldn't be a secret anymore. Like what's in McDonald's special sauce."

"I know what's in McDonald's special sauce," he said flatly.

"Did you put that through the lab?" Sarah chuckled. Lassiter looked away. She shook her head, "You know what, I don't want to know. But I'll tell you what, you stop being an ass and you don't mind waiting a few minutes, I'll give you another plate of cookies for your trouble."

Lassiter looked to be contemplating her offer, weighing out the pros and cons. He then took the cookie on the plate and shoved it in his mouth before he walked toward Sarah. She smiled and shook her head again before she motioned him inside with her hand. Without saying anything, Lassiter walked past her and practically ran up the stairs in her apartment. Sarah followed behind.

Once she was upstairs, Lassiter was stopped in the middle of the walkway, his eyes glued to the TV. "Excuse me," Sarah groaned as she squeezed between Lassiter and the wall. Once she had gotten past him, he moved and sat down on her couch. "Why don't you just make yourself at home?" Sarah said under her breath.

"What is this?" Lassiter asked. "That broody actor is really good. Those dead eyes really speak to me."

Sarah hid her smile and shook her head as she walked into the kitchen. It looked like One Tree Hill should keep him distracted so that they didn't have to have any further awkward conversations. The oven timer beeped and Sarah pulled the red velvet cookies out of the oven. She set the tray on the stove and when she turned around, she found Lassiter standing there watching her. "Good Lord, that was creepy!" Sarah gasped. "Don't scare a girl like that. At least make a noise or two."

Lassiter furrowed his brow. "That seems counterproductive. It would give away my position."

She arched an eyebrow. "Kinda the point," she said gesturing to herself. Lassiter just shrugged. Sarah rolled her eyes before she took the plate that was still in his hands. She rinsed the plastic plate off in the sink and then dried it before she started piling cookies on it. After slipping a dozen cookies on the plate she handed it back to him. He glanced down at it and then back at her.

"Do you think I can see you again?" Lassiter asked. Sarah arched an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes. "For more cookies," he said flatly. "

Sarah placed her hands on her hips. "Say I say yes. What do I get out of it, Detective? You can't just expect me to do this for free."

"That's what my ex-wife used to say before we slept together," he muttered.

Sarah held her hand up to stop him from saying anymore. "Too much information, Detective. Now, I was thinking something more along the lines of monetary compensation."

Lassiter pondered her request for a moment before he nodded his head and said, "I can probably swing that."

Sarah wiped at her face again, causing another streak of flour to coat her face. "You-you have something…" Lassiter began pointing at her face. Sarah's eyes widened as she started to wipe her face, but she missed the streak and added another one. "I got it," he muttered. Lassiter wiped the streaks on her forehead in one swoop. "One more," he said before he wiped the flour from her nose.

She blushed from his surprisingly gentle touch. They made eye contact for a moment and Sarah felt her stomach do a flip. But as quick as it began, it ended. "I should probably go," Lassiter said breaking the miraculously magical moment between them.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, pulling a stray tendril of hair behind her ear.

"I'll be seeing you then," he said before he walked away with his cookies. Sarah didn't say anything. She just watched as he walked out of her apartment wondering what the hell had just happened. How had she gone from point A to point B? Nothing really seemed to make sense. But she did manage to come to one conclusion: she was never watching One Tree Hill again.

Author's Note: Well, that happened. I know it's not my best, but I just had to push through because otherwise, we're never getting another chapter of anything! Haha. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. It means a lot! :) Also, I like OTH-I was just continuing the gag they had running on the show. ;)


	6. Chapter 6

Tap. Tap. Tap. Sarah lazily drummed a pen against the clipboard in her hand. She was back at work again and tending to people's health. Not that they really had missed her to begin with. No one really had seemed to notice her absence. Although, to be honest, Sarah had even debated not returning to work and calling it quits. But Sarah Spencer wasn't a quitter. She couldn't bring herself to quit anything. Quitting was something her brother did and she certainly was not her brother.

Today, it was the people of the walk-in clinic she would be treating. She stood back at the nurse's station as Gloria's finger clacked against the keyboard at the nurse's station. Sarah continued to stare at the oddity on her clipboard. As she studied the words on the page, she absently brought the pen to her mouth and began to chew it. It was a nasty habit, but most of the time she didn't even realize she was doing it until it was too late.

Gloria raised an eyebrow at her and cleared her throat. Sarah removed the pen from her mouth and looked down at the clipboard rather sheepishly, her face practically aflame. "I don't need to give you the germ talk, do I?" Gloria teased.

Sarah rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her ponytail. "I can't help it," she muttered to herself before she turned and walked toward her next patient. Apparently, this guy had asked specifically for her. Odd. But not completely unusual. It couldn't be any weirder than Walter, the sweet old guy who came in biweekly with some complaint or another, but usually just wanted another chance to ask her out. Said she reminded him of his wife. It was sweet, but Sarah turned him down every time. But there was something about this guy she couldn't tell why, but it just seemed weird.

Sarah knocked on the door before she opened it and stepped inside. She was not expecting what she saw. Her eyes widened as she backed against the wall. There was a man sitting there in a Dumbledore costume, but when she caught a glimpse of the twinkle in the man's eye, she immediately knew. "Shawn?"

"Sare-Bear!" Shawn greeted emphatically, tugging his long beard down under his chin and smiling at his sister. Sarah rolled her eyes at her childhood nickname given to her by her brother.

"I should have known," Sarah groaned. "C.U. Peigh wasn't sitting right with me." Shawn laughed immaturely at his sister because she said see you pee when pronouncing the name. Sarah rolled her eyes again. "What are you doing here, Shawn?"

"You haven't been answering my calls."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I can't answer them when you haven't called me."

Shawn pushed the long Dumbledore hair away from his eyes. "Touche."

Sarah rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in the air in frustration. "Seriously? Seriously? What do you want, Shawn?"

"Can't a big brother just want to see his little sister?"

Sarah cocked an eyebrow. "Dressed as Dumbledore?" She paused for a moment. "Hang on, where did you get the Dumbledore costume?"

Shawn grinned. "You wouldn't believe the things Gus has in his closet."

Sarah rolled her eyes. Of course, he would steal it from Gus. Although, Gus probably should never expect to get it back unless he decided to man-up and brave Shawn's apartment. But that's neither here nor there. She was working and her brother needed to understand that. "Shawn, unless you seriously have something wrong with you, there are patients here who actually need my attention. Next time, maybe try texting me."

She sharply turned on her heel to leave when Shawn shouted, "Oh, all right! I need help with a case! My medical knowledge isn't as vast as yours."

Sarah stopped and turned to look at her brother over her shoulder. "You do realize Gus is a pharmaceutical rep, right?"

"His knowledge is more focused on butt creams. I need more of a medical professional and you're the person with the second most extensive medical knowledge I know behind WebMD." Shawn grinned at his own joke. His sister, on the other hand, wasn't amused. "C'mon, Sare-I'll owe you."

"Yeah, because I've never heard that before," Sarah scoffed.

"Someone's crabby today."

"Because you barged into my place of employment in a freaking Dumbledore costume to get medical advice. Do you not see how weird that is?"

Shawn shrugged his shoulders and Sarah groaned. "Fine. The sooner I do this, the sooner you're out of here."

Shawn grinned at his sister. "So, there's this lady looking for her husband. Gus and I tailed him, but when we found him, he had a French accent. So, we thought it was totally fake, right? We tried everything to get the guy to stop. We tried scaring him, surprising him, everything-but no change. The woman is certain that it's him-like the birthmarks are in the right spots and everything. Gus even verified the one on his butt. WebMD told me…"

"Foreign Accent Syndrome. It's rare, but it can happen. It's usually caused by a traumatic brain injury or stroke. If I was you, I'd see if any ERs in the area admitted any John Doe's around the time he went missing and…" Sarah stopped and sighed. "...and that's really why you need me, isn't it?" She threw her hands in the air and groaned. Shawn smiled at his sister. "You do realize I could lose my job for something like this, right?"

"Follow up? I mean, the guy went missing right around when you started here. There's a good chance you were an attending."

Sarah folded her arms across her chest and sighed. "If I do this, I'm gonna have a list of demands."

"Okay, shoot."

"First, you are never allowed to come into my ER dressed as a Harry Potter character again."

"What if I get hurt at a Potter-con-thing and this is the closest ER and I'm naked underneath? You know-because of the breeze. Would you really want me to come in naked?" Sarah arched an eyebrow at her brother. "Okay, no Potter costumes. Check."

"Chocolate. You will bring me chocolate once a week for the next 6 months and none of the fake crap. I want chocolate chocolate."

Shawn appeared to think it over before he nodded his head.

"And my third demand will be determined at a later date."

He shrugged his shoulder and held out his hand. Sarah sighed and extended her hand for the SS handshake: hand clap, back hand clap, fist up, fist down, fist bump, and slide. Sarah walked over to the computer on the desk and sat down. She pulled up the file login screen before she turned the keyboard to Shawn.

"You make this too easy," Shawn chuckled before he placed his fingers on the keyboard. He quickly typed something and pressed enter.

ACCESS DENIED.

Shawn's brow slightly furrowed. "Oh, that was the last password," he said easily rolling it off his shoulders. He tried again.

ACCESS DENIED.

"Give up?" Sarah smirked. "Just so you know, it locks me out of the system after 5 failed attempts."

Shawn mimicked her words in his falsetto before he tried again.

ACCESS DENIED.

ACCESS DENIED.

Sarah smirked. "You have a choice to make, Shawny-boy. Admit defeat or lock me out of the system."

Shawn muttered under his breath before he turned the keyboard back toward his sister. Sarah chuckled.

"When I came up with this password, I thought to myself what will Shawn never think of? Well, he thinks I'm intelligent and sentimental. So nothing personal and something very dumb. I thought for a moment and then I had it. PASSWORD." Sarah typed in the word PASSWORD and hit enter.

Shawn's jaw dropped.

Sarah couldn't help but smirk. She had outsmarted her brother. Usually, he was smug and a smartass about being more observant than her, so she always relished the opportunities to rub it in his face. "Just so you know, that password is getting changed the second I leave this room."

Shawn waved her off before he took control of the keyboard again and began filling in the parameters for his search. "You can leave, you know," Shawn said.

"No, I can't. You're logged in as me. As much as I would love to say that I trust you not to mess with hospital files, truth is: I don't."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "I'm harmless. The worst I would do is give Gus a terminal disease."

"My point exactly."

"My point exactly," Shawn mimicked childishly. "You're no fun anymore."

"I've been told near death experiences will do that to a person."

"You're seriously not over that yet?"

Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "You might just be able to get over things by going to Jamba Juice, but I can't. I don't work like that. Not to mention there's nothing medical behind it."

"You're just not giving Jamba Juice therapy a fair chance. When the medical field recognizes it as a valid practice, I want full credit." Shawn then put his pen down and glanced at his sister. "You were the attending, by the way. What can you tell me about him?"

Sarah's brow furrowed and turned the screen back toward her to study the file. "The file was pretty straight forward on this one. Stroke victim found on a bench on the pier. I'm surprised you didn't know about it. It happened almost right outside your office."

"There was a What Not To Wear marathon on that day. I know that because I wanted to watch Gremlins but Gus put the remote down his pants and I wasn't going there because he had the worst gas ever.."

Sarah rolled her eyes. The shenanigans those two got up to...there was no sane way to classify them as adults. She shook her head, but then her brow quickly furrowed. "Hang on, he had a Psych business card in his shirt pocket. I went to put his clothes in a bag and it fell out."

"He was on his way to see me? Huh. This just got a whole hell of a lot weirder."

Sarah then pressed the power button on the tower. "Which you can figure out back at the Psych office. Now, if you'll excuse me, there are people here who actually need to be seen for medical issues. The nurse will be in here to discharge you in a bit." Sarah unplugged the tower and picked it up in her arms. There was no way she was leaving Shawn alone now that he knew her password. She would make up some excuse like it had a bug or something.

She opened the door with her elbow and stood in the opening. "Good luck, Shawn." Sarah kicked the door closed behind her with her foot before she approached the counter. She set the computer tower down and received a confusing look from Gloria. Sarah grabbed the file from the top of the tower and began filling out some paperwork.

"Mr. P needs a full workup and several very invasive procedures too. He's gonna be here for awhile. Oh, and make sure to put a note in the file that under no circumstances should billing accept a card in the name of Burton Guster." Sarah smirked and Gloria looked up at her curiously. "Thank you, Gloria. You're a gem." Sarah flashed the woman a smile.

"Whatever you say, honey," Gloria chuckled. "Whatever you say."

Sarah couldn't help but grin. Shawn wasn't the only Spencer who could mess with people. When they were little, Gus would say Sarah was more like a fart: silent, but deadly. She didn't get even all the time, but when she did-she got back good.

Author's Note: Question-what would you think of down the road, Sarah having a quarter-life crisis and decides to switch professions and opens her own bakery? Thank you to everyone who has read this. There will be some Sarah/Lassie interaction next chapter. Shawn and Sarah angst got the better of me this chapter. Sorry it's been so long. It was a rough school year and then I moved across the country. I'm in the process of trying to get into my place and then starting the new job, so we shall see how things go. Thanks again for reading/reviewing/following/favoriting! It means the world to me! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Balancing a Little Caesars pizza and a crazy bread combo in one hand and her purse with a two-liter of Pepsi inside in her other hand, Sarah walked toward her apartment from her covered parking stall. While it wasn't the healthiest of meals, it really was fresh and easy like they claimed. Besides, today was definitely a comfort food kind of day. As she approached the door, she noticed a rather tall man in a gray suit, standing with his back to her, next to her front door.

Sarah's brow furrowed in confusion. She hardly ever had people over and usually the only people who waited by her door were door-to-door evangelists. So, she braced herself. "Can I help you?" Sarah called, still a few paces behind on the sidewalk.

The man slowly turned toward her and removed his aviator shades to reveal a familiar face with bright blue eyes that most girls would want to do cannonballs into. It was the head detective for the Santa Barbara Police Department, Carlton Lassiter. Sarah stopped walking for a moment and stared at him, trying to determine what could possibly bring him to her doorstep. Her eyes widened in shock. Thursday. Today was freaking Thursday. For the last four weeks, she had brought him cookies every Thursday, arranging a cookie drop that felt nearly as shady as a drug deal. To make matters worse, not only had she forgotten to bring him cookies...she had forgotten to make him cookies because things at work had been chaotic recently.

Sarah groaned and mentally kicked herself as she approached him. "I'm so so sorry," she apologized. "I completely forgot to even make you any cookies."

The expression on Lassiter's face fell. He looked more like a disappointed child than a grown man in law enforcement. Sarah winced. That look, no matter who gave it to her, always seemed to get the better of her. She hated disappointing people-it was something she wasn't used to. She was used to being able to please people, especially in comparison to her brother. And because of her desire of pleasing people, Sarah didn't have the heart to ask him to wait for cookies until next week.

"But I-uh-was thinking…" Sarah started to speak as Lassiter pushed his wallet into his pocket with slumped shoulders. She blew a tendril of hair from her face. "I was thinking that maybe you could stay for dinner while I get a batch in the oven."

Sarah held the pizza up as a peace offering and offered a sheepish smile. The proposition seemed strange in her head, but she had voiced it before she even thought it over. If she had actually taken the time to think things through, she probably wouldn't have invited the head detective of the Santa Barbara Police Department to have dinner with her...especially since it was one of those days where she could eat a whole pizza on her own. But alas, the words were already out of her mouth...so all there was to do, was wait.

Lassiter opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it. His brow furrowed as pondered her offer. After what seemed like an eternity, he asked, "What kind of pizza?"

"Pepperoni. I'm not an idiot." Sarah smirked because clearly pizza toppings dictated intelligence level. Although pineapple on pizza was definitely up there, it in no way affected said intelligence factoring.

Lassiter nodded his head, seemingly in agreement. His hands shot out and grabbed the pizza. "Here, let me," he offered, without actually offering. He just took the pizza from her before even asking or giving her a chance to respond.

"Oh-kay," Sarah chuckled as she fished her keys from her oversized purse. After several failed attempts to fetch the keys, she finally managed to grab them and she unlocked the door. She turned to ask Lassiter inside, but he just walked past her and up the stairs into her apartment. "Want to come in?" Sarah muttered to herself with a chuckle.

She then crossed the threshold into her apartment and followed him upstairs. "So, how was your day?" Sarah asked attempting to make small talk with him. A necessarily evil...especially since he was going to be there for a while.

"Any day I get to discharge my weapon is a good day in my book," Lassiter mused.

Sarah stopped at the top of the stairs and stared at him incredulously. "You shot someone?" Granted, she knew it was a possibility in his line of work, but some cops went most of their careers without shooting anyone.

"No, a squirrel.".

His tone was serious and that made Sarah laugh to herself. Yes, of course. Shooting a squirrel was just an everyday kind of thing. "What was his crime?"

"Breaking and entering."

Again, his serious tone made her laugh and she could have sworn that she saw a slight smile on his face because of that fact. Sarah chewed her bottom lip to stop her laughter and ran her fingers through her hair. She glanced over at Detective Lassiter standing in her kitchen awkwardly holding onto the pizza box, tapping his foot impatiently.

"You can set that down," Sarah said gesturing to the counter behind him.

Lassiter immediately dropped the pizza box onto the counter, but still remained standing there. It was almost as if he felt out of place and wasn't sure how to behave. He was so awkward that it was almost adorable. Sarah smiled at him and walked toward him. The plates were in the upper cupboard in front of him. She stopped beside him and could practically feel the warmth radiating off him...or she was just imagining it. She shook her head and opened the cupboard. They both reached for a plate at the same time, his arm resting on top of hers, as his hand gripped her hand and the plate.

Both of their hands immediately recoiled. Sarah flushed and she refused to look back at him to see his reaction. "You-uh-can see where the plates are," Sarah muttered before she moved away from him.

It was strange, she could still feel where his arm had rested on her and where his hand had touched her skin. Sarah flushed again, just thinking about it. She walked over to the fridge to gather ingredients for his cookies and for a cool-down. Sarah opened the fridge and grabbed some butter and set it out on the counter. She glanced at Lassiter piling pizza onto a plate.

"Hey! Save me some," Sarah scoffed freely like she would with Shawn. She immediately winced, realizing her mistake. Lassiter wasn't her brother. She was unsure of how he would respond, the man didn't seem like he had much of a sense of humor.

Lassiter froze and turned to look at her. He almost looked amused. 'Excuse me?" he asked, a smile tugging at his lips. This pleasantly surprised Sarah.

Sarah exhaled the breath she had been holding and smirked. "You heard me," she said, folding her arms across her chest and arching an eyebrow at him.

Lassiter chuckled. He actually chuckled, which felt like a huge victory in Sarah's book. Sarah's laughter made Lassiter's smile grow. "I saved you half," he said nodding toward the pizza box before he took a bite of his pizza. "You can look for yourself," he added, still chewing his food.

Sarah arched an eyebrow at him before she took a peek in the box. Not because she didn't trust him, but because it seemed like he wanted her to do so...so she did.

"See?" he furthered before taking another bite of pizza.

Sarah glanced at him and rolled her eyes before she walked back over to the fridge to grab some eggs. She bent over and she could feel his eyes watching her...rather fixated on her rear end.

"Hey!" Sarah shot at him verbally.

His gaze immediately jumped to the ceiling as he took another bite. Sarah chuckled. Honestly, she didn't mind him checking her out-it was nice to have someone appreciate her in that way. She winced. God, that sounded wrong in her head. Thankfully, he hadn't a clue what she was thinking.

"You can-uh-have a seat if you want," Sarah offered him, gesturing toward the table before she pulled her measuring cups out of the drawer.

"I'm fine," Lassiter said, taking another bite of pizza, leaning against the counter.

"Oh-kay." Sarah opened another upper cupboard to grab her mixing bowls. As she reached up for them, she accidentally pushed them back further into the cupboard, just out of her reach. Dammit. Sarah tried doing one of those awkward jumps to grab them, but that managed to push the mixing bowls all the way to the back of the cupboard. She groaned. Sometimes, her height proved to be a serious disadvantage.

Sarah walked to grab the step stool she kept in the pantry when Lassiter reached across and easily grabbed the mixing bowls from the cupboard. "Good thing I didn't sit down, huh?" he stated before returning to his pizza.

"Thanks," Sarah offered, brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear.

"Aren't you gonna wash your hands?"

Sarah looked at Lassiter with a mildly annoyed expression. "I'm getting there."

"Just checking."

"Were you scared that was my secret ingredient? Germies?" Sarah crinkled her nose and waved her hands in front of Lassiter's face. He rolled his eyes and gently knocked her hands away with his free hand that wasn't holding pizza. Sarah laughed, this was certainly a different side of Detective Lassiter that she was seeing, one she was fairly certain people rarely got to see.

Sarah washed her hands and glanced over at Lassiter. "Happy?" she asked with a teasing tone.

"Overjoyed," he answered with a flat tone before shaking his head with a smile.

Sarah smiled back. Perhaps he wasn't completely as serious as he came off She then set to work on making his cookies. Lassiter watched her intently. Sarah knew he was watching to her to figure out her secret ingredient. She pretended to ignore him, but she knew perfectly well what he was doing behind her. When it came time to put her secret ingredient in, she paused and turned toward him.

"Turn around," Sarah said, making a turn around gesture with her index finger.

"Seriously?" Lassiter scoffed incredulously.

"Yes, seriously."

Lassiter muttered to himself and slowly turned around.

"No peeking," Sarah told him as he attempted to catch a glance over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and turned away from her. She quickly reached in the cupboard for her secret ingredient, which was actually a couple things, and added them to her batter. She then put them away as fast as she had gotten them out and quickly set to stirring the mixture. "You can look now," Sarah said over her shoulder.

Lassiter walked over and stood directly behind her and began to rifle through her cupboard. Sarah looked up at him curiously over her shoulder. "Sea salt," Lassiter said quite proudly as he picked the container up. "Sea salt."

"That's one of them, detective," Sarah teased.

"One of?" he repeated, his brow furrowing which made Sarah laugh. He eyed the cookie dough batter quizzically before he reached his arm over Sarah's shoulder, dipped his finger into the bowl, scooped up some batter, and slipped it into his mouth.

"Hey!" Sarah laughed turning toward him. "That's one less cookie for you."

Lassiter chewed his morsel of dough, savoring it, attempting to identify the added flavors. "Are those coconut shreds I detect?"

"That's another one," Sarah said shaking her head. "You keep this up and my recipe will no longer be secret."

He seemed to think that was an invitation because he reached over Sarah once more and grabbed a chunk of dough. As he withdrew his arm, Sarah meant to playfully scold him by swatting his hand. She did so, but the dough splattered all over Detective Lassiter's face.

Sarah's eyes widened and her hands flew over her mouth in shock. She tried very hard to hold back her laughter at the sight of Santa Barbara's finest covered in cookie dough. When the shock wore off, he wiped his face with his hand. "You think that's funny, do you?" he asked looking at the cookie dough which was now in his hand.

Still holding her hands on her face, it was a giggle that gave her away.

"Then let's see how you like it?"

With his left hand, Lassiter reached for another scoop of dough. Sarah attempted an escape but his right arm snaked around her waist, tickling her, practically paralyzing her. Once the dough was in his hand, he raised it above his head to give Sarah her just desserts, but he suddenly froze. Sarah managed to stop squirming and looked up at him. Their eyes locked on each other. Neither of them was sure what the hell was happening or how things managed to get here, but somehow they had. Neither could have anticipated this.

Sarah chewed her bottom lip. She wanted him to kiss her and his face slowly leaned toward her. It looked like he wanted to kiss her too. Sarah's breath hitched and she closed her eyes, anticipating the kiss. But it never came.

"I gotta go," Lassiter said abruptly before removing his right hand from her waist. He fled her apartment like a bat out of hell. So quickly, that Sarah hardly knew what was happening. She even wondered if she had made the whole thing up, but her front door slamming shut told her that it had been very real.

Sarah ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. What the hell had happened? When had that happened? Since when was she attracted to him? Sarah honestly couldn't answer when it had happened...but it had.

Glancing at the cookie dough mess frustrated her. She groaned and walked away from the kitchen, leaving it there. She wasn't ready to deal with that mess yet, because it would force her to realize how much of mess she was in where Detective Carlton Lassiter was concerned. She needed to clear her head. She needed a walk.

Sarah marched down the stairs, name-calling herself with every step. She opened the door to go outside but stopped in her tracks. Standing outside her door with his finger nearly on her doorbell was Lassiter. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched. Sarah could practically feel her heart pounding fast. What was he doing here?

Lassiter's mouth opened to say something, but nothing came. The pair stood there, engaged in a staring contest. It seemed like they stood there staring at each other for an eternity. When Lassiter broke the silence. "Oh, to hell with it."

He reached out and grabbed Sarah's cheeks with his hands before crashing his lips onto hers. Sarah moaned before she eagerly responded, kissing him back. Her arms snaked around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. She wasn't sure what the hell was happening, but she knew that she liked it. She thoroughly enjoyed kissing him.

Several heated kisses later, their lips separated from each other, but they remained clinging to the other. For once, at least in front of her, Lassiter looked very unsure of himself and how to proceed, looking to her for answers. Sarah pulled herself up by his tie and nibbled his bottom lip. "Door," she breathed. Lassiter kicked the door shut with his foot before he picked Sarah up, causing her to squeal with delight before he carried her upstairs for more.

Author's note: So...there's that. There's some Sassie for you! But what's gonna happen next? Hahahahah. Well, I know, what's happening next and I'm sure y'all can guess. Lol. Thank you, everyone, for all the support you have shown this story. It means the world to me! Thanks for answering my inquiry about Sarah and the bakery. Almost all of you seemed very open to it, so it will definitely be something I will be considering as I continue the story. Thanks again!, especially to those who reviewed


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